Stiffener and aligner for hollow metal doors and casement windows



July 1, 1930'. I 5. H. ELLISON 4 STIFFENER AND AL'IGNER FOR HOLLOW METAL DOORS AND GAS EIIENT WINDOWS Filed oat/12. 1928 while perfectly aligned with itself will not hang properly-within a door frame dueto-v Patented July 1, 1930 UNITED, STAT" PATIENT OFFICE,

EDWARD H. ELLISOILOE J AMEs'row new yomn'nssIdN-QR IQ Etnrson BRONZE COMPANY, INQ, oFrALcoNER, NEW YORK, A coRroRATroNor Nnw our;

STIFFENEB AND ALIGNER FOR I-IQLLOW METAL ld'GORS AND CASEMENT WINDOlZlIS Application filed 0ct0ber'12, 1928. Serial No. 312,092;

This ijnventionrelates to an improvement in a stiffener and aligner for hollow metal doors and casement windows. 7

Prior to this invention much diificulty has been encountered in building hollow metal doors by reason of the fact that the various elements which go to make up each door have, during work performed upon them, become-slightly bent or twisted and as a result 10 the assembled door is of more or less misaligned proportions. Whileit is true that in the producing of a hollow steel door it is possible to so accurately cut and assemble the parts as to produce a perfectly aligned door, such procedure requires much more time than is commercially practical and is therefore seldomresorted to. Oftentimes hollow metal doors are made up from sheet bronze or brass. When producing. a door from either of these metals it is necessary to rivet the various elements together because of the fact that these metals .are subject to warping or twisting when heat is applied. It is possible to produce doors of either of these materials of perfect proportions but prior to this invention no method of twist ing doors of this type has been available which would not tend to loosen the rivets. Obviously, any metal door can be twisted 0 under pressure to align it with itself or an adjacent door but such procedureresults in looseningthe rivets which hold the elements together. Applicants device, on the other hand, when used in conjunction with doors made of either bronze or brass is capable of slightly bending or twisting the door into the desired alignment without loosening the rivets thereof.

It often happens that a hollow metal door inaccuracies in assembling said frame. This is particularly true of a double door frame in which the stop for the doors is along the upper edge of the frame only. Under such circumstances a pair of doors may each be perfectly aligned with itself and each other and'yet when hung from opposite sides of the door frame, the free edges thereof will be out of alignment. Through the provision use of to align the door;

of a stifiener and aligner in each door it is possible to slightly twist the top or bottom .of either of the doors to bring them into perfect alignmentwith each other.

The assembling and mounting of casement windows is also subject to much the same difficulties as obtain with respect to hollow metal doors and it is contemplated to provide ap-v plicants device insuch forms as may be applicable to align casement windows with themselves and within their frames.

In the following specification applicant discloses a device for use within and in conjunction witha hollow metal door, access to the provision of a hollow metal .door having an adjustable stiffener and aligner located therein which isadaptable to adjustment from the exterior of the door.

Another object of this invention is the provision of 'a stiffener within the stiles of a hollow metal door having arms, one of which is accessible of adjustment from the exterior of the door.

Other and further objects of this invention will appearfrom a consideration of the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and in which;

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a hollow metal door showing one modification of a door stiffener and aligner in dotted lines;

1 Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the stiffener and aligner indicated in Fig. 1;

. Fig. 3is a plan view'of Fig. 2;

Fig, 4: is a greatly enlarged vertical sectional View taken on the line l.t of Fig. l and illustrates the means bywhich the upper andhorizontal armof the stiffener is made Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on the line 5 -5 of Fig. 1 and illustrates the manner of pivotallysecuring the upper vertical end of the stiffener to the door;

. Fig. 6 is a plan view of a modification of this invention illustrating the use of a hollowinetal upright in place of the solid memthe hollow upright member. s Referring to the drawing,thisinvention is applicable for use within a hollow metal door indicatedbytthe reference numerallO. The

' tapped openings 21and '22 extending thereber shown in the previous "figures of the drawing; and

Fig. 7 is a'vertical sectional View of the modificationshown inFig. 6, illustrating the manner ofsecuringthe horizontal arms to door 10is formed with a hollow stile 11 and rail 1-2, the upright; 1;?1 ofthe stiffener 13c being mounted within said stile. Secured to, the top andbottom of the upright 14 and eX-ytending at right angles" thereto within the i rails 12 are arms 15 and'1'6; The upper arm 15 is secured adjacent its end 17 to the upper edge of the upright 14in any'suitable man ner as by welding. In the end-"17 of'the'farm Q 15-anope'ning 18 isdrilledwhichcoincides with a threaded opening 19 provided'in the upright 14. The purpose ofthese-openings willlater be brought out'in connection with other details "of construction. The free end 20 of the arm 15' has horizontally drilled and v through. Attention is called to the fact that the "end 20 is of a considerably lesser width than the end 17 the purpose of which is'to a 3 provide" clearance for movement of the rail 12-horizontallyofthe arm 15to accomplish the aligning of said door. Although the arms 15 and 16 are shown asbeing of a length slightly lgreater than one-half the width of the d0or,it is contemplatedto use longer or shorter armsas frequ redto al gn various types ofdoors:

' The arm 16, secured inany suitable manner as by welding to thebottom of the upright 1 1, is of a length equ'al tio that of the arm 15. This arm is preferably of a uniform width throughout its length and is provided with avnumberof spaced vertical openings 23; It is contemplated, however, to construct the arm 16similarly to the arm15 whenthe warping of a heavy door is to, be overcome.

Within the upper rail 12 of the door 10,

and extending the :full length thereof, is

mountedthe usual supporting channel mem- -.ber 24;, the sidewalls 25 of which abut the inner faces of therailg The width of the arms 15 and 16is such that they will rest 1' within the space formed by the channel 24.

Mounted-upon the upper face and adjacent the end'17 of the arm15 is a small channular member 27, the side walls 28 of which closely engage the side walls '25 of the channel 24. c

An opening in the base wall 29 of the channel-227 isprovided, said opening being directlyin line with the openings 18 and 19 in. the arm 15 andupright ll. A stud 32 is passed through the openings 30 and, 19 in the upright. It is to be noted that inasmuch as 'the channel 27 is secured against any horizontal movementby-its engagement with the channel 2 1, when the stud 32 ties the channel 27 to the arm 15 and upright 1%, said upright and arm are provided with a pivotal 7 point about which they may move with relation to said channel when the end 20 of the arm is moved from oneside to the other. "The arm 16 is rigidly secured to the base of the stile channel 3 1 by means of studs 35 l which are passed through openings 86 in said channel and brought intothreaded engagement with the openings 23"of the arm; Inasmuch as the arm 16 a-nd the lower end of the upright 14 are rigidly secured to the door rail,-they.act to resist any twisting of the upright by the upper arm 15. v

* -When it is contemplated to assemble a-hollow metal door embodying this invention,

the following steps areto be observed: The stiffener 13, having been assembled into the unit shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing, is inserted within a door. The channel member 27 is secured in place upon the'arm 15 by the stud 32 and the lower arm 16 is secured tothe channel 341: through-the use ofthe studs35.

When this has been donethe stifiener 13 is permanently mounted within the door and' the door'may be finally assembled. Through "possible negligence in constructing the-vae.

rious elements or through warping of the metal, the assembled product may be some:

what misaligned andin order to bring about a perfect alignment screws :39 and 4-0 are provided;- These screws areadapted to en,- gage the outer end 20 of the arm'lfithrough the openings 21 and 22, said screws being engaged with said arm from -op p'osite:.sides of thedoor rail 12. Should the upper portion of the door be warpedtonoccupy the position shown in dotted line in Fig. 4:, theouter end ofrthe arm 15 will be found to be considera ion bly off center and, in order to, straighten the door by means of the stiffener, the screw 39 is turned to draw the remote edge of thedoor toward the arm l5 until the misaligned portion of said door is in align with the balance of thestructure. The screw 40 may now-be turned as far, as possible and when this has been done the upper portion of the door will be rigidly held in engagement =-'wi;th the arm 15; 1

It is to be noted that the upright ll l andarms 15 and 16 are of a sufficie'nt strength to.

pivotalgmeans providedthrough the userof. l

the channelmember27 and thestud 32 is for the-purpose of permitting the edge ofrthe d001,? remote from this pivotal point move-- ment with relation to the stiffener and aligner. I

While it is contemplated to make use of a stilfener and aligner having a solid metal upright, it is obvious that under certain cir cumstances, particularly when a light weight door is required, the upright 13 would materially add to the weight of the door. Under such circumstances the modification shown in Figs. 6 and 7, providing a hollow metal up right ll, is preferred. The vertical walls of the hollow upright 41 are welded or. otherwise suitably secured together. The ends of the upright a1 are welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the inner faces of the arms 15 and 16. It is obvious that a hollow upright 41 has not the resistance against twisting that the solid upright 14 has but since an upright of this kind is to be used in connection with small or light weight doors, its rigidity will more than equal the safety factor required for doors of this type.

lVhile only two modifications of this invention have been shown and described, applicant does not intend to be limited thereto since it is obvious that other modifications and adaptations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention as set forth in the following claims.

Having thus set forth my invention what I claim is new and for which I desire protection by Letters Patent is: r

1. A stiffener and aligner for a hollow metal structure comprising an upright body member, arms rigidly secured to and extending at right angles to said upright member, means supporting one end of said upright and adjacent end of one of said arms on said structure and adjustable means on one of said arms adapted to act upon and move the misaligned portion of said structure into alignment.

2. A stiffener and aligner for a hollow metal structure comprising an upright body memher having upper and lower arms rigidly secured to said upright, means supporting the upper end of said upright, said means being in fixed engagement with said structure and adjustable means on one of said arms adapted to act upon and move the misaligned portion of said structure into alignment.

3. A stiffener and aligner fora hollow metal structure comprising an upright body mem ber, horizontally extending arms rigidly secured to the top and bottom of said upright member, a channel member secured to said structure, means engaging said upright and one of said, arms with said channel and ad justing screws engaging the free end of one of said arms with said structure whereby when either of said screws is actuated, the adjacent portion of said structure will be moved into aligned position.

4-. A stiffener and aligner for hollow metal doors comprising an upright body member, horizontally projecting arms rigidly fixed to the top and bottom of said upright member,

a channel member secured to said door, a stud securing said upright and the upper of said arms to said channel, said upper arm being tapered toward its free end and adjustable means adapted toengage said free end and said door whereby when said means is actuated the upper portion of said door will be brought into alignment with either the lower portion thereof or an adjacently hung door.

5. A stiffener and aligner for hollow metal doors comprising an upright body member having horizontally projecting arms rigidly fixed to the top and bottom thereof, means mounting one end of said upright and the adjacent arm with relation to said door, the upper of said arms being tapered toward its free end and screws adapted to engage said a stud securing one end of said upright andv the adjacent arm with relation to said door, the upper of said arms being tapered toward its free endand screws adapted to engage said free end and said door whereby said door adjacent said upper arm may be moved into alignment with the lower. portion thereof or an adj acently hung door by actuation of said screws.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature.

EDWARD H. ELLISON. 

